today we rode up the gondola to do some more luging. we had been looking forward to this as we had really enjoyed our luge experience in rotorua. we bought the 5 ride luge pass so we got a 6th ride for free. rotorua has 3 tracks but queenstown only has 2. i split my rides even and did both tracks 3 times each. my last luge run was on the advanced track and i really went for it. i wanted to see how long it takes. i clocked myself from around the bridge at the start of the track (2:15:47pm) to the bottom of the track where you have to start slowing down as the tracks will merge (2:17:04pm), for a total time of 77 seconds. twiddle thumbs was more cautious and took 14 seconds longer. i chose those points as markers to clock as i felt they would be fair to any rider. it begins from where one would have started to gain momentum as there is no set "start" line where everyone would begin from for sure and ends before one might get stuck in a line of people waiting to get to the end of the track and return their luge carts.

queenstown gondola and luge tracks

luging is so much fun that i really wish it existed in california too. perhaps someone will build it. perhaps it already exists somewhere in america. i can picture six flags magic mountain taking up such an endeavor. the land they occupy is cheap enough that they could purchase more space and they seem like the kind of folks to do such a thing.

me enjoying the advanced luge track

the only thing that i think would prevent an american company from building a luge track such as this is that old stereotype of americans which is unfortunately too true. fear of lawsuits. i can see americans getting too crazy with the luge, going out of control and getting in many accidents. though the luge tracks in new zealand require one to wear a helmet, i'm sure you would have to impose more safety gear upon americans because teenagers would go crazy on the luge. i wasn't going too crazy but i did lose a bit of control racing down at (almost) full blast and banked up the side a couple of times. i was able to maintain control and never flipped over but i can see how easy it would be to lose control and get into a major accident.

picturesque old west view